Individuals are rapidly accumulating large collections of digital image content, including still images, text, graphics, animated graphics, and full-motion video images. This content may be presented individually or combined in a wide variety of different forms, including documents, presentations, still photographs, commercial videos, home movies, and meta data describing one or more associated digital content files. As these collections grow in number and diversity, individuals increasingly will require systems and methods for organizing and presenting the digital content in their collections. To meet this need, a variety of different systems and methods for organizing and presenting digital image content have been proposed, including manual digital image albuming systems that enable users to create digital photo albums manually and digital image albuming systems that provide various levels of automated image layout functionality.
Users typically find the process of managing a large collection of digital image content to be tedious and time consuming. Recognizing this common experience, efforts have been made to improve the interfaces through which users can manage their digital image content collections. Many image management systems are implemented by software programs that create graphical user interfaces that allow users to perform various image management tasks using a keyboard and a pointing device, such as a computer mouse. To operate these systems, however, users typically must have access to their personal computer systems. This is not always possible, especially when users are away from their homes.
Hewlett-Packard Company recently has developed a line of all-in-one printer/scanner/copier machines that allow users to print contact sheets containing thumbnail versions of the images that are stored in a memory card that is plugged into the machines. The thumbnail images (or simply “thumbnails”) are distributed uniformly on the contact sheets. Adjacent to each thumbnail is a series of fields that provide options, such as the number of prints of an image to be printed and the size and type of paper on which the prints are to be printed. Users can fill in the fields with a marking instrument, such as a pencil. A user scans a marked contact sheet into the printer/scanner/copier machine and the machine automatically reads the handwritten information that was entered into the fields and prints images from the memory card in accordance with the entered information (e.g., prints the right numbers and sizes of only the requested images).